It's About Share of Voice, Not Conversions

During college I started a job for a small Internet marketing company called Webmix Marketing. On my first day the owner pulled me aside and taught me the importance of a magic term called ROI. He explained that we could build the best online advertising campaign, send the funniest tweets, or shoot the sexiest YouTube video, but if we did not show the client a positive ROI then we would lose the client. So is there life is an Internet marketer. One of the best articles I wrote while at Webmix Marketing was titled The Geek and His Girl, The Importance of ROI.

Fast forward two years and I was again running AdWords campaigns for companies. This time, however, instead of the Nashville Pest Control company or a small Costa Rican resort I was working for large Fortune 100 brands. After one successful flight I jumped on the phone with an agency's media buyer. Excited to show the success of the campaign that I built and ran I started spouting off metrics like click-through-rate, bounce rate, and cost-per-conversation. The media buyer stopped me and she said, "I don't care about cost-per-conversion." I was stunned. How could she not care? My years of training on the importance of measuring ROI were ready to argue back and prove that this woman was crazy. But I listened, and the media buyer finished her sentence, "I don't care about cost-per-conversion, I care about share of voice."

Digital advertising began as a results oriented direct response advertiser's dream. It was the classifieds with the ability to measure anything. But as digital advertising grows up, so does the focus on ROI. This is not to say it loses importance, but rather the entire investment funnel must be considered. And for branding campaigns that means building a pipeline of awareness and consideration with campaigns focused on metrics like share of voice.

What if Driving Were Free

After attending thea recent auto conference financial services company Raymond Jones issued a research note stating that Apple and Google were now officially competitors to the auto industry. 

With CarPlay and Android Auto installed in a vehicle, auto companies have concluded that they eliminate differentiation in the user experience. This terrifies OEM's and manufacturers alike, because without that differentiation currently high markups are difficult to justify.

The thought of Apple, Google, or any other tech company going it alone to develop a car may seem surprising but is inevitable. Google recently moved from converting existing vehicles into self driving cars to creating an entirely new vehicle type with no steering wheel or rearview mirror. Apple may not be far behind with a similar creation.

So how would the world look with tech companies running the auto industry. Here are a few points that I would expect.

• Commuters will not own vehicles. Companies will have fleets that drive around and move people as requested. Think a glorified Uber only no driver and the scale to make it more affordable.
• Commute differentiation will matter. Do you want your vehicle to have a bed so that you can snag a few more minutes of sleep? What about an exercise bike? A workstation?
• Commune commutes will lead to self driving buses or other shared ride options.
• With transportation a revenue driver for tech companies look for immediate advancements in fuel.
• As a current test in Las Vegas proves there is interest in replacing Semi truck drivers, so look for a very impactful cross country transport revolution.
• And finally, what if driving were free. Is there really that much of a difference between cars on the highway and information on the information superhighway? I mean, besides absolutely eliminating accidents and unnecessary driving time - what if the transportation of America became a macrocosm of the world wide web, funded by advertising. Possible? Riders could be targeted based on their interests, destinations, and more.

Netflix With Ads

Uh oh ... It has finally happened. As a trickle of the billions of dollars allocated to TV advertising has been shifting over to digital mediums Netflix has become a symbol for the cord cutting movement. Industry disrupting statements like, '1.4M US Homes Cancelled Cable in 2013' and 'Half of All TV is Now Streamed Online' have multiplied to become an powerful case against a TV-only media plan. And now ... the incentive for Netflix to act may have reached its tipping point.

According to Cord Cutters News Netflix has started testing pre-roll ads. Right now these ads only promote other Netflix shows, but as Vice channel Motherboard states, Netflix could out-target traditional TV networks and make a handsome profit. Netflix executives, however, have repeatedly stuck by their guns promising no 3rd party ads on the growing streaming service.

The History of Google Chrome

It looked like Microsoft was going to do it again ... complete, total, absolute market domination. Yes there were a few upstarts like Mozilla tossing a web browser into the ring, but Microsoft's Internet Explorer owned the market.

Jump back to 1988 when a young Danish man by the name of Lars Bak graduated with an MS degree in Computer Science from Denmark's Aarhus University. Lars quickly became a JavaScript prodigy.

Sun Microsystems picked up Lars and put him to work on virtual machines, or coded programs within a larger system. After several years in Sunny Cupertino, California Lars Bak was anxious to return to his home country of Denmark. He left Sun to start his own company OOVM.

Impressed by his team's work, Microsoft decided to bring Lars on. They made Lars a fabulous offer, which Lars summarily refused. He was more interested in growing his own projects and staying close to his daughters who were studying in Denmark.

About the same time Google also made a move pick up Lars Bak. Again the lure of a great paycheck was insufficient incentive. Google then made a counter offer that was unprecedented in the corporate world. Google offered to build an office in Denmark for Lars and his entire team if he world bring his projects to Google. Lars readily accepted.

Fast forward a few months and the world saw the release of the now dominant Google Chrome, all thanks to Lars Bak and his team.